The sniffer reported 5600 ft at the south edge of Gunsite (I can't make it home from that altitude and distance) and the CD Gary Kemp cancelled the day.
Dad and I had lunch and then we're headed to Model 6 for some pool time with the other pilots.
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Day 8 Pre-Report
Today, I arrived at the hanger a little bit early as my dad and I had to straighten out some insurance issues, since one of the pilots accidentally hit my car with his trailer hitch, hooked the front bumper and pulled the connectors out and tore some of the connector holes for about half of the length of the bumper.
People were already talking about how bad the forecasts looked, and how disparate the two methods looked. The soundings were showing good lift to 10-14kft, and the blipmaps were showing lift to 6kft. That's a big difference. Rick Walters, currently in 1st place and a CD advisor, told me that we woudln't be flying today and I took him for his word.
However, during the meeting, the CD decided to have us grid, and he'd throw a sniffer up to see how the conditions really are. So, I have to switch gears back into flying mode and hope for the best - hopefully the strong forecast is right!
We fixed the flat tire on the tail dolly by buying a plastic wheel from ACE, the lock guy is still working on the trailer lock, I'm borrowing a battery for today and tomorrow and now I have the bumper to fix. Let's hope that's the end of the mechanical issues for this contest!
Talk to you soon.
People were already talking about how bad the forecasts looked, and how disparate the two methods looked. The soundings were showing good lift to 10-14kft, and the blipmaps were showing lift to 6kft. That's a big difference. Rick Walters, currently in 1st place and a CD advisor, told me that we woudln't be flying today and I took him for his word.
However, during the meeting, the CD decided to have us grid, and he'd throw a sniffer up to see how the conditions really are. So, I have to switch gears back into flying mode and hope for the best - hopefully the strong forecast is right!
We fixed the flat tire on the tail dolly by buying a plastic wheel from ACE, the lock guy is still working on the trailer lock, I'm borrowing a battery for today and tomorrow and now I have the bumper to fix. Let's hope that's the end of the mechanical issues for this contest!
Talk to you soon.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Day 6 and 7 Report
Well, cross country racing isn't a sport for those who want quick results. Getting good at this is going to take some more time and experience.
The last two days have been riddled with beginners mistakes. Ones that I will definitely learn from, but still frustrating to make.
Day 6
It's been said that it gets especially stable here during the first few days of a heat wave. Yesterday was the first day of about 5 that are forecasted to be over 100 deg F. We gridded in the heat and lanuched to Craggy to the west. I was able to get a reasonable climb, and a decent start, at about 9500ft (500 ft below the top of the start cylinder). The CD changed the task mid-air to a Modified assigned task where pilots choose their path for 3 hrs. I had an ok (ok is relative, I've never been so low, or had such weak thermals to work - but everyone else was in the same boat) run to China, and then decided to come back north to Duzel Rock, hooked Lefko and then decided that I was going to go to R-Ranch since I had tried the day before and wasn't able. A little voice inside my head said that probably wasn't a good idea, but I wanted to see if I could do it and then get out. I got a weak climb to about 7000ft on the back side of Craggy and then decided to run into R-Ranch. It was very still the entire way in, and I was banking that Craggy - the mountain that we climb on every day at the start - would be working and that I could climb out there. I got to Craggy and it was dead. 4kts sink even, and I was forced to head back to Siskiyou. I finished the task but I was once again under time - about 1.5 hrs under time in fact. Once I landed the locals told me that Craggy never works in the afternoon, and when the winds are from the north, the valley gets washed out especially early due to the marine layer blowing in from the Medford OR valley to the north. Grr!
Day 7
The day 7 forcast was also stable, and the CD called a short turn area task. Minimum distance was 66 miles - that short of a distance means that the weather really is iffy. I was 9th to launch and I had a surprisingly ok time getting to Gunsite and into the start cylinder. The lift however was bubbly. Sometimes you'd ride a bubble to the top and sometimes you'd come under people who were going up and there'd be nothing at all. In the start clyinder I left a thermal that really wasn't working all that well, and turned in under DDT (Garrett Willat) and found nothing. At this point my compuer (which is set up conservatively) was telling me that I had marginal glide back to Montague, and I coudln't make it to Siskiyou. So, at this point I had two choices. I could stay in the moutains and hope that I could find some lift, risking landing in a field between Gunsite and Montague, or I could head back into the lower terrain and still have an airport in glide, risking that I might not find lift over the foothills or in the valley. I decided to head out. As I suspected (I really should listen to my gut instinct - it's right more often than I realize) I didn't find any lift, and thought I'd have to land at Montague. I was able to climb enough to get to Siskiyou and decided to land and start over. I got a relight to Craggy (the north wind was blowing) and I didn't find anything - again just sink. At that point my choices were to fling myself and the hills, knowing that if I didn't find anything I'd have to land in a field, or call it a day. I decided to come home. Frustrated I landed and put the glider away. There were 6 landouts and several competitors have dropped out of the contest and gone home.
I know what my mistakes were, I should have given it a little more time in the mountains and tried to find some lift. However, the glider and I are still in one piece, and I'm still in 27th place! No major changes!
The last two days have been riddled with beginners mistakes. Ones that I will definitely learn from, but still frustrating to make.
Day 6
It's been said that it gets especially stable here during the first few days of a heat wave. Yesterday was the first day of about 5 that are forecasted to be over 100 deg F. We gridded in the heat and lanuched to Craggy to the west. I was able to get a reasonable climb, and a decent start, at about 9500ft (500 ft below the top of the start cylinder). The CD changed the task mid-air to a Modified assigned task where pilots choose their path for 3 hrs. I had an ok (ok is relative, I've never been so low, or had such weak thermals to work - but everyone else was in the same boat) run to China, and then decided to come back north to Duzel Rock, hooked Lefko and then decided that I was going to go to R-Ranch since I had tried the day before and wasn't able. A little voice inside my head said that probably wasn't a good idea, but I wanted to see if I could do it and then get out. I got a weak climb to about 7000ft on the back side of Craggy and then decided to run into R-Ranch. It was very still the entire way in, and I was banking that Craggy - the mountain that we climb on every day at the start - would be working and that I could climb out there. I got to Craggy and it was dead. 4kts sink even, and I was forced to head back to Siskiyou. I finished the task but I was once again under time - about 1.5 hrs under time in fact. Once I landed the locals told me that Craggy never works in the afternoon, and when the winds are from the north, the valley gets washed out especially early due to the marine layer blowing in from the Medford OR valley to the north. Grr!
Day 7
The day 7 forcast was also stable, and the CD called a short turn area task. Minimum distance was 66 miles - that short of a distance means that the weather really is iffy. I was 9th to launch and I had a surprisingly ok time getting to Gunsite and into the start cylinder. The lift however was bubbly. Sometimes you'd ride a bubble to the top and sometimes you'd come under people who were going up and there'd be nothing at all. In the start clyinder I left a thermal that really wasn't working all that well, and turned in under DDT (Garrett Willat) and found nothing. At this point my compuer (which is set up conservatively) was telling me that I had marginal glide back to Montague, and I coudln't make it to Siskiyou. So, at this point I had two choices. I could stay in the moutains and hope that I could find some lift, risking landing in a field between Gunsite and Montague, or I could head back into the lower terrain and still have an airport in glide, risking that I might not find lift over the foothills or in the valley. I decided to head out. As I suspected (I really should listen to my gut instinct - it's right more often than I realize) I didn't find any lift, and thought I'd have to land at Montague. I was able to climb enough to get to Siskiyou and decided to land and start over. I got a relight to Craggy (the north wind was blowing) and I didn't find anything - again just sink. At that point my choices were to fling myself and the hills, knowing that if I didn't find anything I'd have to land in a field, or call it a day. I decided to come home. Frustrated I landed and put the glider away. There were 6 landouts and several competitors have dropped out of the contest and gone home.
I know what my mistakes were, I should have given it a little more time in the mountains and tried to find some lift. However, the glider and I are still in one piece, and I'm still in 27th place! No major changes!
Monday, July 7, 2008
Day 6 Pre-Report
Well, we had a hectic morning as we went to the hardware store to get a c-clamp for the axel of my tailwheel, and tried to figure out what was wrong with my battery. On Sautrday, while I was putting the glider in the trailer for the rest day, I noticed that the axel for the tailwheel of the glider was partially out. Apparently, the c-clip that holds the axel in had fallen off, or wasn't correctly replaced after the weight and balance that we did in June. Good thing that I caught it before I lost the wheel and dragged the fuselage on a landing.
Also, my battery keeps dying. I have a 12V 12amp-hr battery, and I'm only running the radio, Colibri GPS logger, PDA for moving map display and the audio variometer. The battery won't last more than about 4 hrs. A few days ago, we used a different charger and had the same probelm. We went around town today to find someone who could load test the battery, but all of the places can't test something with low amperage (they are used to testing car batteries). Unfortunately, the ATV shop, the one most likely to be able to test the battery was closed today. We'll have to try again tomorrow.
It's going to be blue today - that is no clouds to mark the thermals. It's a turn area task with turns at China to the south(5 mi radius), Dry Lake (15mi) well to the east (near Lava Beds national monument - it's impressive to see the lava flows from the sky), Butte Valley (7 miles) back to the north west from Dry Lake, and finally Mt Hebron Summit(5 mile radius) to the south west of Butte, and home. Should be fun!
I'll try and get the photos up tonight - I've tried before without much luck.
Talk to you soon!
Also, my battery keeps dying. I have a 12V 12amp-hr battery, and I'm only running the radio, Colibri GPS logger, PDA for moving map display and the audio variometer. The battery won't last more than about 4 hrs. A few days ago, we used a different charger and had the same probelm. We went around town today to find someone who could load test the battery, but all of the places can't test something with low amperage (they are used to testing car batteries). Unfortunately, the ATV shop, the one most likely to be able to test the battery was closed today. We'll have to try again tomorrow.
It's going to be blue today - that is no clouds to mark the thermals. It's a turn area task with turns at China to the south(5 mi radius), Dry Lake (15mi) well to the east (near Lava Beds national monument - it's impressive to see the lava flows from the sky), Butte Valley (7 miles) back to the north west from Dry Lake, and finally Mt Hebron Summit(5 mile radius) to the south west of Butte, and home. Should be fun!
I'll try and get the photos up tonight - I've tried before without much luck.
Talk to you soon!
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Rest Day - Getting Caught Up
So, July 6th is a rest day, and Dad and I are planning to go to the Lava Tubes national monument.
Before we head out, I though I'd start writing about the last three days since I've once again fallen beind.
Day 3 was challenging. The smoke was especially bad, and the contest director called a 3 hr MAT task, with the first turn at China. I wasn't especially nervous since I've been doing my best to stay relaxed. At Craggy, I was able to climb up easily and headed out into the start cylinder. I had been first to lanch, so I had about an hour and ten minutes to wait before I could head out on course. In the start area, the smoke was expecially bad, and at one point I lost my orientation and coudln't tell which direction I was flying. I finally got it figured out an headed back out to where the smoke wasn't so bad. In the meantime, I was getting lower and lower. Once I got back to Craggy, I found it especially hard to connect with lift, and I just wasn't able to get high enough to get back into the start gate. I would get high enough to push back into the mountains, and I'd go and go and go without finding another thermal. I'd go until I didn't have glide back into Siskiyou airport, only to Montague (which is about 5 miles west of Siskiyou) and then turn back into the valley. I think I did this 4 times, with my frustration level steadily increasing. The smoke wasn't helping anything either. Before we took off I had decided that I'd fly to the east because the smoke in the west was so bad, but the prevailing wisdom was to stay to the west since the conditions should be better. But the smoke was so bad - in the area that I flew I had about 3 miles visibility. By the time I finally got started, I was so frustrated by the start, and miserable flying in the smoke, that I wasn't having any fun. I decided to get the first turnpoint, and head home - calling it a day early.
I ended up being about 1.5 hrs early, but I was happy to be on the ground. Most of the pilots reported flying in instrument flight rules (IFR) conditions -- conditions where the visibility is so bad, that in order to fly safely the aircraft must carry additional instruments to prevent loss of control of the aircraft. In fact, one pilot said that he had to take his hands off of the controls for 2-3 minutes, because he was unable to keep a steady heading. I heard lots of pilots saying "gosh I'm sorry that I almost hit you! That was a close call" etc, on the ground during the after flying social hour.
I was definitely glad to have come home early given all of that, but it started to shake me up for the rest of the contest. What if the smoke remains that bad for the duration of the contest? Am I going to have to come home early, or should I sit the day out because I don't feel safe? Also, one of the pilots mentioned that he thought that the 4th would be a rest day, so I was well on my way to talking myself out of flying.
As the day ended, I found myself thinking, if the smoke doesn't get better after this front passes - then I'm packing it up and heading home. There's no reason to stay here and fly in unsafe conditions. There's nothing on the line for me - even the winners just get a trophy or a medal and a handshake.
Soaring is a really difficult sport in this sense. It's so important to remain calm and think clearly, but at the same time it's really important to listen to your gut instincts and fear. That's the stuff that keeps you safe -- it's a balancing act, one that I'm still trying to master.
Day 4 - July 4th
I was pretty discouraged on the morning of the 4th - after having been shaken up by the smoke and the frustrating start. I didn't really want to fly, but the smoke definitely looked better. I had talked myself into a discouraged corner, and it was going to take some convincing to work that out. The task was a turn area task, where a large radius is put over a turnpoint (maybe 20 miles or so) and it's up to the pilot to decide where to go within that radius. So, the fast pilots will go to the far edges of each circle, and the slower pilots can catch the inside corners, and all pilots can finish the task. It's still a speed thing, so those who go faster (and cover more distance) get more points.
The task was south to China, east to a 20 mile cirlce at Dry Lake, a 10 mile circle at Radar Facility, and then 10 miles to the north west at Restaurant. Initially I had trouble at the start, but was able to make it up the second time, and I had a good start. The run down to China has gotten easy by now, and I was in good position to cross the Shasta Valley. On the other side, I throttled back slightly as I wasn't able to get over about 8500 ft, and many of the thermals were ragged and difficult to climb in. Heading west, a very clear convergence line between the cooler moist air (does anyone hate the word moist?) from the Tule Valley and the dry air from the volcanic mountains to the south set up, and it was an easy glide into the Dry Lake turnpoint. By this time, I was really glad that I had decided to fly. I was definitely having fun. I turned and headed back up the convergence that I had just flown. As I headed to the Radar turn, I noticed that the clouds stopped. In fact everything to the north was completely blue. This was a bad sign, as I wasn't able to get another climb. Just south of the Radar turnpoint, I decided not to continue into unlandable areas, and I turned back to land at the Butte Valley airport. I landed immediately after Ray Gimmey (several time world team member) and soon after 5 other gliders landed at Butte. The day had just quit. I think 12 people landed out that day -- those who got an early start, or were fast enough to get a climb at Radar before it quit generally made it home.
I got an aero tow from the airport back to Siskiyou county, and I realized that I had forgotten to turn off my battery - which was now completely dead. (I just realized that I forgot to tell you about the temporary FAA tower which is now at the field - because there are 4 forest service aircraft based here - including 2 P-2 fire bombers, a temporary tower has been installed at the field. These guys are from Las Vegas and have never controlled gliders and were drinking from a firehose the first day. One guy couldn't remember what airport he was at and kept saying vegas tower, and another guy said, "whatever you do I don't care, just don't surprise me." They were in over their heads as approximately 30 gliders landed in about 15 minutes. Also, the glider guys - myself included, aren't all that good at radio work. We're used to flying at airports without control towers.) Anyways, so I wanted to let the tower know that I was coming in, so I called my dad on my cell phone, and had him radio my intentions to the tower. Apparently it worked and they were fine with my approach. I was definitely a unique way of communicating with the tower. I guess they said, "if you can hear us, nod your head." but, I heard nothing. (They had binoculars on me and with the bubble canopy on the Libelle, I have no doubt that they could see me clearly.)
Day 5
Still nervous at times, but doing much better overall. The CD announced that the 6th would be a rest day. The task was called to the south at China, the west to Callahan, north to Quartz, north to Restaurant, back to China and home - or something like that. I'd never been that far west before and I was nervous as a wall of either cirrus or smoke had started to move in from the west. As we started the launch, the cirrus (definitely not smoke - thankfully) was over the western mountains, and the CD changed the task to a MAT with the first turn at China. Just as the nationals launch finished, the cirrus rolled over the airport, and over half of the regionals pilots weren't able to get out of the valley to the start. This made me feel better about my bad start the other day, as I realized that sometimes it's just hard to get out of the Siskiyou airport.
Anyways, I had fun yesterday - I went past China to the Siskiyou lake dam, just to see if I could get back without landing out. I realized that it wasn't the fastest thing to do, but I wanted to see if I could do it - and I did. I stayed over the mountains just to the west of Shasta Valley and made some triangles between the turn points. I decided to go north to Restaurant to kill my last 45 minutes. As I was headed north, I realized that the clouds quit, and I probably wasn't going to make the last turn. I did my best to kill time and get out there, but I ended up coming home early. I should have picked up another turn point, and headed south again, but I had already gone too far when I realized my mistake. Live and learn - do better another day, always trying to improve.
Rest Day!
Dad and I spend the day at the Lava Beds national monument. Turns out I flew over this on day 4, and saw the lava flows, which are impressive both from air and by foot. We spelunked through lava tubes and walked on a lava flow. Really impressive stuff.
Well, I'm off to bed. 4 days left!
Before we head out, I though I'd start writing about the last three days since I've once again fallen beind.
Day 3 was challenging. The smoke was especially bad, and the contest director called a 3 hr MAT task, with the first turn at China. I wasn't especially nervous since I've been doing my best to stay relaxed. At Craggy, I was able to climb up easily and headed out into the start cylinder. I had been first to lanch, so I had about an hour and ten minutes to wait before I could head out on course. In the start area, the smoke was expecially bad, and at one point I lost my orientation and coudln't tell which direction I was flying. I finally got it figured out an headed back out to where the smoke wasn't so bad. In the meantime, I was getting lower and lower. Once I got back to Craggy, I found it especially hard to connect with lift, and I just wasn't able to get high enough to get back into the start gate. I would get high enough to push back into the mountains, and I'd go and go and go without finding another thermal. I'd go until I didn't have glide back into Siskiyou airport, only to Montague (which is about 5 miles west of Siskiyou) and then turn back into the valley. I think I did this 4 times, with my frustration level steadily increasing. The smoke wasn't helping anything either. Before we took off I had decided that I'd fly to the east because the smoke in the west was so bad, but the prevailing wisdom was to stay to the west since the conditions should be better. But the smoke was so bad - in the area that I flew I had about 3 miles visibility. By the time I finally got started, I was so frustrated by the start, and miserable flying in the smoke, that I wasn't having any fun. I decided to get the first turnpoint, and head home - calling it a day early.
I ended up being about 1.5 hrs early, but I was happy to be on the ground. Most of the pilots reported flying in instrument flight rules (IFR) conditions -- conditions where the visibility is so bad, that in order to fly safely the aircraft must carry additional instruments to prevent loss of control of the aircraft. In fact, one pilot said that he had to take his hands off of the controls for 2-3 minutes, because he was unable to keep a steady heading. I heard lots of pilots saying "gosh I'm sorry that I almost hit you! That was a close call" etc, on the ground during the after flying social hour.
I was definitely glad to have come home early given all of that, but it started to shake me up for the rest of the contest. What if the smoke remains that bad for the duration of the contest? Am I going to have to come home early, or should I sit the day out because I don't feel safe? Also, one of the pilots mentioned that he thought that the 4th would be a rest day, so I was well on my way to talking myself out of flying.
As the day ended, I found myself thinking, if the smoke doesn't get better after this front passes - then I'm packing it up and heading home. There's no reason to stay here and fly in unsafe conditions. There's nothing on the line for me - even the winners just get a trophy or a medal and a handshake.
Soaring is a really difficult sport in this sense. It's so important to remain calm and think clearly, but at the same time it's really important to listen to your gut instincts and fear. That's the stuff that keeps you safe -- it's a balancing act, one that I'm still trying to master.
Day 4 - July 4th
I was pretty discouraged on the morning of the 4th - after having been shaken up by the smoke and the frustrating start. I didn't really want to fly, but the smoke definitely looked better. I had talked myself into a discouraged corner, and it was going to take some convincing to work that out. The task was a turn area task, where a large radius is put over a turnpoint (maybe 20 miles or so) and it's up to the pilot to decide where to go within that radius. So, the fast pilots will go to the far edges of each circle, and the slower pilots can catch the inside corners, and all pilots can finish the task. It's still a speed thing, so those who go faster (and cover more distance) get more points.
The task was south to China, east to a 20 mile cirlce at Dry Lake, a 10 mile circle at Radar Facility, and then 10 miles to the north west at Restaurant. Initially I had trouble at the start, but was able to make it up the second time, and I had a good start. The run down to China has gotten easy by now, and I was in good position to cross the Shasta Valley. On the other side, I throttled back slightly as I wasn't able to get over about 8500 ft, and many of the thermals were ragged and difficult to climb in. Heading west, a very clear convergence line between the cooler moist air (does anyone hate the word moist?) from the Tule Valley and the dry air from the volcanic mountains to the south set up, and it was an easy glide into the Dry Lake turnpoint. By this time, I was really glad that I had decided to fly. I was definitely having fun. I turned and headed back up the convergence that I had just flown. As I headed to the Radar turn, I noticed that the clouds stopped. In fact everything to the north was completely blue. This was a bad sign, as I wasn't able to get another climb. Just south of the Radar turnpoint, I decided not to continue into unlandable areas, and I turned back to land at the Butte Valley airport. I landed immediately after Ray Gimmey (several time world team member) and soon after 5 other gliders landed at Butte. The day had just quit. I think 12 people landed out that day -- those who got an early start, or were fast enough to get a climb at Radar before it quit generally made it home.
I got an aero tow from the airport back to Siskiyou county, and I realized that I had forgotten to turn off my battery - which was now completely dead. (I just realized that I forgot to tell you about the temporary FAA tower which is now at the field - because there are 4 forest service aircraft based here - including 2 P-2 fire bombers, a temporary tower has been installed at the field. These guys are from Las Vegas and have never controlled gliders and were drinking from a firehose the first day. One guy couldn't remember what airport he was at and kept saying vegas tower, and another guy said, "whatever you do I don't care, just don't surprise me." They were in over their heads as approximately 30 gliders landed in about 15 minutes. Also, the glider guys - myself included, aren't all that good at radio work. We're used to flying at airports without control towers.) Anyways, so I wanted to let the tower know that I was coming in, so I called my dad on my cell phone, and had him radio my intentions to the tower. Apparently it worked and they were fine with my approach. I was definitely a unique way of communicating with the tower. I guess they said, "if you can hear us, nod your head." but, I heard nothing. (They had binoculars on me and with the bubble canopy on the Libelle, I have no doubt that they could see me clearly.)
Day 5
Still nervous at times, but doing much better overall. The CD announced that the 6th would be a rest day. The task was called to the south at China, the west to Callahan, north to Quartz, north to Restaurant, back to China and home - or something like that. I'd never been that far west before and I was nervous as a wall of either cirrus or smoke had started to move in from the west. As we started the launch, the cirrus (definitely not smoke - thankfully) was over the western mountains, and the CD changed the task to a MAT with the first turn at China. Just as the nationals launch finished, the cirrus rolled over the airport, and over half of the regionals pilots weren't able to get out of the valley to the start. This made me feel better about my bad start the other day, as I realized that sometimes it's just hard to get out of the Siskiyou airport.
Anyways, I had fun yesterday - I went past China to the Siskiyou lake dam, just to see if I could get back without landing out. I realized that it wasn't the fastest thing to do, but I wanted to see if I could do it - and I did. I stayed over the mountains just to the west of Shasta Valley and made some triangles between the turn points. I decided to go north to Restaurant to kill my last 45 minutes. As I was headed north, I realized that the clouds quit, and I probably wasn't going to make the last turn. I did my best to kill time and get out there, but I ended up coming home early. I should have picked up another turn point, and headed south again, but I had already gone too far when I realized my mistake. Live and learn - do better another day, always trying to improve.
Rest Day!
Dad and I spend the day at the Lava Beds national monument. Turns out I flew over this on day 4, and saw the lava flows, which are impressive both from air and by foot. We spelunked through lava tubes and walked on a lava flow. Really impressive stuff.
Well, I'm off to bed. 4 days left!
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Scoring
It turns out that I got a little bit too excited. I guess the task yesterday was 3 hrs, not 2.5. I finished my task slightly short of the 2.5 hours, and was scored at 2.5 hrs. Hence the 11th place. When they rescored the day, my total distance was divided by 3 hrs, which drastically decreased my overall speed. Basically, it's like I had 0 speed for over half an hour. Instead of 11th, I ended up 21st. It was really my mistake, but it was dissapointing to get so excited about 11th. Really 21st is a good place - my best in a nationals, but not as exciting as 11th.
Oh well, it's all about having fun right? And even if the score wasn't as good as I thought, I had a lot of fun out there, once I got out of the smoke.
For today, we have a similar task as yesterday. A modified assigned task, with a start at Gunsite and then the first turn at China, then as far as you can go until 2.5 (it really is only 2.5 today) hrs have elapsed. The smoke is still really bad to the west, so even though the forecast looks good that direction, I have no plans to go that way. I'll be headed east into the valley that we've been flying over for the past few days. There's a few airports and lots of landable fields. The ridge between the Shasta valley and the Butte Valley is supposed to be working, so I'll try and run along that... Let's hope the smoke clears out soon.
Oh well, it's all about having fun right? And even if the score wasn't as good as I thought, I had a lot of fun out there, once I got out of the smoke.
For today, we have a similar task as yesterday. A modified assigned task, with a start at Gunsite and then the first turn at China, then as far as you can go until 2.5 (it really is only 2.5 today) hrs have elapsed. The smoke is still really bad to the west, so even though the forecast looks good that direction, I have no plans to go that way. I'll be headed east into the valley that we've been flying over for the past few days. There's a few airports and lots of landable fields. The ridge between the Shasta valley and the Butte Valley is supposed to be working, so I'll try and run along that... Let's hope the smoke clears out soon.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Day 2
I can't believe that it's already day 2! I've been meaning to get this going sooner, but I haven't gotten the chance. Maybe it's just my gotta stay chill attitude that I've been working on having for this contest. Hence the name Staying Cool. Not only is it pretty warm here, I've made it a personal goal of mine to do my best to stay positive, calm and collected. I have a couple of reasons for this, probably the biggest being that I don't like being scared or stressed - it just sucks the fun out of it.
I'll write about today since it's still fresh in my mind. Today was cooler than the previous days, which follows the forecasts showing a cooling trend until Friday, when I guess a front is supposed to pass. The mountians to the west of the airfield were completely hidden by smoke, as they ususally are in the morning, but today the smoke never lifted. The task was called similar to Day 1, which I haven't written about so I'll fill you in. The contest director called a Modified Assigned Task (MAT) where the first few turns are specified and a total time is given, and then it's up to the pilot to use the time left to maximize speed and distance. We usually tow to a hill nearby called Craggy to get the first climbs out of the Shasta Valley, then we move south west into the mountains to make it to an area called Gunsight. This is our start gate (really a start cylinder), with a 5 mile radius, and a top of 10,00ft. Today the start gate was totally filled with smoke. I even considered coming home and not flying because the smoke was so bad. I had some trouble with disorientation, but made it a point to focus on my airspeed to stay safe. Once the gate opened (20 minutes after the last glider in line has been towed aloft) the fleet headed south along the mountain tops to random mountain called China. This leg was easier than expected as the air cleared up quite a bit and the lift was good. Several of us stumbled into some thermal wave (that is, wave lift that is generated off of a thermal - the thermal acts like a mountain would in the classic mountain wave system) and got quite high. High enough to cruise across the Shasta valley without concern. I was able to get climbs just about everytime I thought "I'd like to get a bit higher right now", and didn't have too much trouble. I did notice that the clouds in the middle of the Butte Valley looked great, but when I crossed under them, there was little activity - no sink, but no lift either. In my mind, this meant that the lift under those clouds had already cycled, and it wouldn't pay to fly under that again. Turns out that some people got caught off guard and landed at the Butte Valley airport.
I wandered about the valley a bit longer, before I decided to head home. At one point, I was out of glide to an airport, but had fields in the area made. I found a thermal coming off of some sunny rocks, and was able to climb up to well over final glide. I kind of chickened out on getting some extra miles and heading to other turn points and I ended up coming home just a few mintues early with extra altitude. I'll have to make a mental note not to do that again. But, I ended up 11th place for the day! This is far and away my best finish to date in a glider contest, and I'm super happy!
Off to slumber!
I'll write about today since it's still fresh in my mind. Today was cooler than the previous days, which follows the forecasts showing a cooling trend until Friday, when I guess a front is supposed to pass. The mountians to the west of the airfield were completely hidden by smoke, as they ususally are in the morning, but today the smoke never lifted. The task was called similar to Day 1, which I haven't written about so I'll fill you in. The contest director called a Modified Assigned Task (MAT) where the first few turns are specified and a total time is given, and then it's up to the pilot to use the time left to maximize speed and distance. We usually tow to a hill nearby called Craggy to get the first climbs out of the Shasta Valley, then we move south west into the mountains to make it to an area called Gunsight. This is our start gate (really a start cylinder), with a 5 mile radius, and a top of 10,00ft. Today the start gate was totally filled with smoke. I even considered coming home and not flying because the smoke was so bad. I had some trouble with disorientation, but made it a point to focus on my airspeed to stay safe. Once the gate opened (20 minutes after the last glider in line has been towed aloft) the fleet headed south along the mountain tops to random mountain called China. This leg was easier than expected as the air cleared up quite a bit and the lift was good. Several of us stumbled into some thermal wave (that is, wave lift that is generated off of a thermal - the thermal acts like a mountain would in the classic mountain wave system) and got quite high. High enough to cruise across the Shasta valley without concern. I was able to get climbs just about everytime I thought "I'd like to get a bit higher right now", and didn't have too much trouble. I did notice that the clouds in the middle of the Butte Valley looked great, but when I crossed under them, there was little activity - no sink, but no lift either. In my mind, this meant that the lift under those clouds had already cycled, and it wouldn't pay to fly under that again. Turns out that some people got caught off guard and landed at the Butte Valley airport.
I wandered about the valley a bit longer, before I decided to head home. At one point, I was out of glide to an airport, but had fields in the area made. I found a thermal coming off of some sunny rocks, and was able to climb up to well over final glide. I kind of chickened out on getting some extra miles and heading to other turn points and I ended up coming home just a few mintues early with extra altitude. I'll have to make a mental note not to do that again. But, I ended up 11th place for the day! This is far and away my best finish to date in a glider contest, and I'm super happy!
Off to slumber!
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